Copy The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia was awarded to Spanish architect, educator, critic, and theoretician Rafael Moneo. Selected by the Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia, upon recommendation of the Curator of the Biennale Architettura 2021, Hashim Sarkis, the acknowledgment will be awarded to the architect on Saturday, May 22nd, 2021 together with the Special Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in memoriam to Lina Bo Bardi. The first-ever Spanish architect to receive the Pritzker Prize, Rafael Moneo (Tudela, Spain,1937) is famous for his contextual buildings and commitment to modernist stylings. Attracted initially to philosophy and painting rather than architecture, he was influenced by his father - an industrial designer – to pursue a career in architecture. Graduated in 1961 from the Escuela Técnica Superior of Madrid, the architect worked during his early years with the architect Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza in Madrid and with Jørn Utzon in Hellebaeck, Denmark, before returning to Spain and opening up his own practice in 1965.